1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an article of clothing. More particularly, the present invention relates to a bathrobe that has an arm access in the form of an openable seam, which is especially useful in a hospital setting in which patients may be receiving treatment through intravenous (IV) devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Regular bathrobes are well known and widely used in places such as homes, hotels, spas and hospitals, and generally speaking they serve the intended purposes well. However, sometimes they present problems for the wearer. For example, it is not uncommon that patients in hospitals and people in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities have IVs (an IV is defined here as including a needle, an adapter, a supporting pad (if necessary) and associated adhesive tapes, but excluding the main tube) inserted into their arms for various medical reasons. Furthermore, it is not uncommon that such persons need to put on a bathrobe before going to the bathroom, making phone calls in the lobby, or going to an examination room. A regular bathrobe will present a problem for such a person because that person has to extend his or her arms, often with large movements, through the arm openings and into the sleeves in order to put on the bathrobe. As should be understood, this process increases the chance that the position of the needle of the IV on that person's arm may be accidentally altered in an undesired or harmful way, or even that the IV device may be dislodged. Furthermore, this process requires that person to use extra efforts due to the stiffness and/or bulkiness of their arm resulting from the IV insertion.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved bathrobe that allows a user with an IV to easily put it on and take it off without the need of substantially moving the arm that is inserted with the IV.